Karelskaya Gornitsa

Top choice in Northern European Russia


Claiming to be the first Karelian restaurant in the world, this ye-olde hot spot boasts excellent, hearty fare, including rabbit borsch and rich, gamey and fishy mains, washed down with its own medovukha (honey mead). The wild mushroom soup (pokhlebka gribnaya) is superb.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Northern European Russia attractions

1. Museum of Regional Studies

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Besides exhibitions on trade between Russia's north and the Byzantine world, the history of the city and regional trades, this excellent museum (with…

2. Ploshchad Lenina

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3. Statue of Yury Andropov

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Unveiled to protests and arrests in 2005, a youthful statue of Yury Andropov commemorates the USSR’s 1982–84 supremo and chief of Petrozavodsk’s Komsomol …

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5. Fine Arts Museum

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6. Lakeside Promenade

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8. Statue of Peter the Great

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Close to the hydrofoil terminal is a jaunty statue of Peter the Great pointing to the spot where Petrozavodsk would be founded.